When you schedule your LTL shipments, do you know when they’ll be picked up and delivered? Are you putting up with LTL delays? Long gone are the days when LTL trailers were dispatched on a regular cadence throughout the day, leaving on preset intervals like clockwork regardless of trailer cube. Today, most LTL carriers focus on maximizing cube, which may not always align with customer timing. Your shipment may have to wait several days when moving through a traditional LTL network, especially if there are multiple stops along the way. This approach is designed to maximize transit cube and redu ..read more

In the logistics and transportation industry, the vetting of drivers and carriers may not always receive the attention it deserves to protect customer interests. From employing drivers with high accident and claim rates or low performance results to skipping background checks, this oversight can lead to significant risks, including shipping delays, loss, theft, and even double brokering. As a recent article from Security Informed notes, many carriers lowered their quality standards during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet a higher demand for deliveries, resulting in hasty hires and unvetted driver ..read more

Transportation Sector’s Downturn Contrasts with Surging Durable Goods & Changing Shipping Rates The transportation sector experienced a 15% decline in 2023 compared to the previous year. However, LiVe Logistics—with an extensive carrier network of over 40,000 companies and independent drivers—doubled load volumes. Spending on durable goods was up, but shipping volumes decreased. This anomaly could be due to an increase in warehouse space and higher inventories, a trend that unexpectedly rose during the pandemic instead of declining. This increase in storage capacity meant that goods could ..read more

For better or worse, you now have more freight options than ever before, ranging from Asset-based Carriers, to Traditional Brokers to Tech-only Brokers. How do you choose the right option for your freight? See how each option compares in the table below: Service Type Asset-Based Carriers* Traditional Brokers Tech-Only Brokers LiVe Logistics Full Truckload (FTL) Yes Yes Yes Yes Less-than-Truckload (LTL) Yes Maybe Yes Yes Partial (Sprinter Vans & Box Trucks) Maybe: depends on the fleet Maybe Unlikely Yes Intermodal No Maybe Maybe Yes Drayage No Maybe Maybe Yes Ocean No No No ..read more

Two fallacies seem to have emerged as the freight market has evolved. Understanding what is really going on will put you in the best position to always know where your freight is, ensure more on-time shipments, and reduce your freight total cost of ownership (TCO). Fallacy #1: Large, Asset-Based Carriers Only Use Their Trucks Asset-based carriers with a fixed number of trucks, trailer and drivers may turn to independent owner-operators when they need support. In this way, asset-based carriers may operate similar to a freight broker. Large carriers add to their trucking fleets by buying other c ..read more

Because of decreases in durable goods shipments compared with 2020 through 2022, freight costs have declined significantly but have flattened out, so contract pricing is near to spot pricing. While shippers and transportation professionals can breathe a sigh of relief, this may only last for the next 6-12 months. Other recent developments and their potential impact on the third quarter of this year and beyond are noted below. Carriers Supplementing Their Fleets Many large carriers use independent owner-operators to move freight There’s still a driver shortage but a lot are of independent driv ..read more

With the drumbeat of recession chatter, combined with falling year-over-year shipment volume and pricing, it can be easy to be pessimistic. However, it’s important to be cautious with year-over-year numbers: artificially high demand for durable goods through most of the pandemic—caused by an artificially low supply of consumer services due to quarantines—helped produce artificially high shipping costs. Thus, comparing metrics to 2019 can be more relevant so 2023 demand levels look better and are looking a lot like 2019. Beware Artificially Low Contract Pricing & Paper Rates One difference ..read more

How do you know if your loads are covered, especially if they are high-value and high-risk? Does your carrier or broker cover load losses over $100,000 even if it’s not their fault? How can you avoid the financial disaster that could follow a freight disaster? Understanding the difference between cargo liability and insurance is critical, as well as knowing what your carrier or broker actually offers. Cargo Liability Most standard carrier agreements cover up to $100,000 in cargo liability, which is included in your freight quote. This is enough to cover the value of many loads, but shippers ca ..read more

At a recent Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) conference, we were struck by how disconnected supplier and reseller communications are. Many just don’t see a path to connecting the dots primarily because their carriers and/or brokers don’t provide this for them. This freight status quo has been accepted for a long time because carriers and brokers use one system that has significant limitations (no one system can do it all) or they use systems that don’t work well together. More egregiously, there hasn’t been a willingness to change because of a lack of understanding beyo ..read more

How do you secure and insure your high-value, highly targeted loads? Truck hijacking is on the rise, so here’s how you can protect your cargo – and drivers – from organized crime and inside jobs. From a recent hijacking of a truck carrying Nvidia graphics cards to a UPS big rig with the driver tied up in the back and found six hours later to the armed capture of an 18-wheeler in Mount Jackson, VA, freight theft is on the rise. Trucks are increasingly facing hijacking – or attempted theft – by organized crime, as well as “inside jobs” orchestrated by those privy to high value cargo. According t ..read more